There are many essential aspects of human life that are inherently non-individual, that is, aspects of life that individuals depend upon but that no individual alone could ever define, create or maintain. Language is one of most obvious examples of this: minimally, language must be something adopted and developed by at least two people acting […]

We often have a sense of pride in a product that we have made, and the effort we put into forming the thing gives us a sense of ownership. After years of practice with the soccer ball and the playing field, I feel on the “inside” of soccer, I feel that soccer is “my thing.” […]

Recently, I found myself in a dull part of Pittsburgh, looking for a place just to get off the street, relax, and have a drink with a friend. The only place we could find promised live music–a bonus, from my point of view, since witnessing live music is one of the most rewarding experiences I […]

“Did you earn it or inherit it?” This is the question that Socrates asks the shield-manufacturer Cephalus at the beginning of Plato’s Republic. Socrates asks this question about Cephalus’s wealth, noting that people who inherit wealth from another tend be less careful about its use than do people who have earned it themselves. Already this […]